“This used to be a place for a new beginning, people living the dream in a tenement apartment,” said Ariel Tirosh, an associate broker with Douglas Elliman who is the sales agent for several luxury condos, including 100 Norfolk and 179 Ludlow. “Now they live the dream in a new condo.”

I do not understand the appeal of buying a condo on the Lower East Side. Maybe if some oligarch is buying an apartment for his 22 year old kid so he can go to the shitty bars and then stumble home? If I had the money, I would buy a condo in the East Village over the LES anyday; streets are nicer & cleaner, more businesses that serve residents, and less (but not that much less) whoo girls disrupting your sleep. Seems like these developments are for foreigners who love the idea of the LES, but haven't considered the actuality of living there.

I'm 38 and own an apartment here. I bought it with my own money and enjoy the liveliness of the area, quality of the restaurants and just generally like it here. If you're really so unhappy, you can, I don't know.... go somewhere where you would be happy?

Not really. Why be somewhere you are so unhappy and consider so terrible? Life is too short for that. There are many, many people that would gladly trade places. So, if one would rather be elsewhere why not go to where you would be happy and someone will happily take your place?

if i thought it would do any good i'd tell anonymous 3:24 all the things s/he is not understanding. nobody said to not like it here. you don't even appreciate what it says about you when you say that we should: "i don't know... go somewhere where you would be happy?"

I don't think he is missing the point. Many of us have put down roots in this neighborhood over the past few decades, and that is a big part of what brings us happiness around here. "If you don't like it you can just leave it" is the attitude that transients and gentrifiers bring to the neighborhood, and they do kind of ruin a lot of what we liked and hope to like again about the East Village and LES. History and culture matter just as much as good food and bars.

" So, if one would rather be elsewhere why not go to where you would be happy and someone will happily take your place?"

Give me a f*kng break. Living in fear of losing your home, continuous harassment, watching your neighbors and local businesses being forced out… Just reduce it all to meaningless rhetoric. That's right, "just move", provided that you can find an affordable neighborhood for a year or two until you're told to "just move" from there, too.

@CHurt wrote "'If you don't like it you can just leave it' is the attitude that transients and gentrifiers bring to the neighborhood"

That's the problem with transients: firstly, they aren't planning to stick around, so they don't care about what happens in a given neighborhood.

Secondly, ecause THEY don't plan to put down roots, they don't see why anyone else would ever put down roots either. It's their own shortsightedness that's in evidence in the "if you don't like how we've wrecked your nabe, then just move" attitude.

I laugh at these people because they are SURE they'll never be middle-aged, much less elderly. But time waits for no one - you're already well on the way to losing your hair & seeing your waistline expand; it'll happen sooner than you can imagine.

Meanwhile, I'll just stick around here, in the community I have been part of for many years, enjoying what transients can't even imagine.

"Just move" - sure, no problem! Just find a new place to live; just pay to have stuff moved from one place to a new one; just upend your entire daily life; and maybe just find a new job because the new place you can afford is a zillion miles from where you work - yeah, "just move" is the answer. NOT.

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